A S Klein Engineering: Protecting our progress from going up in smoke

This year marks A S Klein Engineering’s fourth year in business offering chemical and fire protection engineering, energy management and code consulting services locally and nationally.

We have continued to provide specialized technical and engineering consulting services to Hanford projects while at the same time grown our satisfied client base in the private sector. Our plans for 2016 include continuing exciting commitments we have made during the past year.

One major undertaking that will continue through 2016 has been CHPRC’s risk mitigation work in the Canyon Facilities. The Canyon Facilities are mammoth concrete structures where chemical separation of plutonium from the uranium fuel rods took place after the rods had been subjected to the nuclear chain reaction in the Hanford reactors.

We will continue to protect workers and the public in 2016 while also looking out for our clients’ best interests.

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These nonoperating canyons are highly contaminated after years of removing plutonium from irradiated fuel rods, and the risk mitigation efforts involve decontamination and the removal of legacy waste in order to prepare the facilities for demolition. A S Klein Engineering is proud to be providing the fire protection engineering necessary for this tremendous effort through teaming partner, Babcock Services, Inc.

We continue to support blanket master agreements (BMAs) with the Hanford Primes through teaming partners Meier Architecture Engineering and Mid-Columbia Engineering.

We also continue to work closely with Dade Moeller to provide comprehensive safety solutions to some of industry’s most highly hazardous processes.

The economy is booming, which means that businesses are adding facilities, developers are expanding portfolios and manufacturers are increasing capacities. During the past year, we have helped almost every industry sector either build or operate safely and in compliance with applicable codes.

Multifamily residential, manufacturing, chemical warehousing, cold storage, automotive repair, nuclear processing, health care — every building use and the operations that occur within are governed by our adopted set of building and fire codes. By understanding the unique requirements for each building, as well as exemptions to general requirements applicable to each building, we will continue to protect workers and the public in 2016 while also looking out for our clients’ best interests.

Nonprofits, too, are reaping the benefits of the booming economy and are also expanding. We recently had the opportunity to offer pro bono code consulting services for the design and construction of new headquarters for Habitat of Spokane and the MLK, Jr. Family Outreach Center in Spokane. We look forward to seeing these projects come to fruition and to future opportunities to help the community.

We are strong believers that giving back also means supporting one’s own professional organizations, so we are active in code and standards development on the national level.

Our engineers have been active for years on National Fire Protection Association standards development committees; however, this year marks the first cycle where we are providing representation on the International Energy Conservation Code development committee. The IECC is developed by the International Code Council, whose model codes are updated on three-year cycles. Because of the cost and energy necessary to develop codes, local jurisdictions adopt a set of ICC’s model codes and may add local amendments.

The IECC has been adopted as the governing energy code in 48 of the 50 states, including Washington.

The past year has been a phenomenal growth year for our firm, and we are excited to keep the momentum going. As the title Progress Edition implies, the Tri-Cities will never rest on its laurels and will continue to build, grow and achieve the impossible. A S Klein Engineering is positioned to support this progress in any capacity we can.